Maitotoxin: An Enigmatic Toxic Molecule with Useful Applications in the Biomedical Sciences

Background: Numerous sequencing techniques have been progressed since the 1960s with the rapid development of molecular biology studies focusing on DNA and RNA. Methods: a great number of articles, book chapters, websites are reviewed, and the studies covering NGS history, technology and applications to cancer therapy are included in the present article. Results: High throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies offer many advantages over classical Sanger sequencing with decreasing cost per base and increasing sequencing efficiency. NGS technologies are combined with bioinformatics software to sequence genomes to be used in diagnostics, transcriptomics, epidemiologic and clinical trials in biomedical sciences. The NGS technology has also been successfully used in drug discovery for the treatment of different cancer types. Conclusion: This review focuses on current and potential applications of NGS in various stages of drug discovery process, from target identification through to personalized medicine.

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A Cohort study to compare Admission criteria and Academic performance among preclinical students at The Copperbelt University School of Medicine: complete enumeration (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.16938 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Mwila

Keyword(s):

Academic Performance ◽

Cohort Study ◽

Clinical Medicine ◽

Average Score ◽

First Year ◽

Admission Criteria ◽

Biomedical Sciences ◽

Dental Surgery ◽

School Of Medicine ◽

Better Than

BACKGROUND The Copperbelt University is the second public University in Zambia. The School of Medicine has four major programs namely; Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Clinical Medicine and Bachelor of Biomedical sciences. The Copperbelt University School of Medicine runs a five-year training program for both the BDS and the MBCHB programs. Students are admitted into the Medical school after successfully completing their first year at the Main campus in the School of Natural Sciences with an average of 4 B grades or higher (B grade is a mark of 65 to 74%). OBJECTIVE The study was done to determine the association between admission criteria and academic performance among preclinical students. Hence, the study compares the academic performance among preclinical students admitted into the Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the Copperbelt University School of Medicine. METHODS This is a retrospective cohort study conducted at Michael Chilufya Sata School of medicine Campus. A pilot study was conducted with 30 BDS and 30 MBCHB students and the obtained information helped determine the sample size. SPSS was used to analyze the data. The study period lasted approximately 7 weeks at a cost of K1621. RESULTS In 2014, there was an improvement in average performance between 2nd and 3rd year for each program. An average score of 15.4 (SD 4.2) was obtained in 3rd year compared to 12.8 (SD 4.9) in 2nd year (p<0.001). Meanwhile, 3rd MB ChB mean score was 12.6 (SD 3.7) compared to 10.7 (SD 3.6) in 2nd years (p<0.05). However, in 2016, both programs, 3rd year mean scores were lower than 2nd year (MB ChB 2nd year mean score was 12.0 (SD 4.3) compared to 3rd year with a mean score of 9.5 (SD 4.5), p<0.001; BDS 2nd year mean score was 10.6 (SD 4.0) compared to 3rd year mean score of 8.2 (SD 3.4), p<0.01. On average MB ChB students performed better than BDS students in all the years (p<0.05), except in 2016 when the results were comparable. CONCLUSIONS Results from the study shows that entry criteria has a correlation to academic performance as students admitted with higher grades perform much better than those with lower grades.

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Chitosan-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Induce Low Cytotoxicity and Low ROS Production in Primary Leucocytes, Independent of Their Proliferative Status

Pharmaceutics ◽

10.3390/pharmaceutics13070942 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 942

Author(s):

Helen Yarimet Lorenzo-Anota ◽

Diana G. Zarate-Triviño ◽

Jorge Alberto Uribe-Echeverría ◽

Andrea Ávila-Ávila ◽

José Raúl Rangel-López ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gold Nanoparticles ◽

Cell Death ◽

Cancer Cells ◽

Cell Lines ◽

Mononuclear Cells ◽

Bone Marrow Cells ◽

Lymphoid Cells ◽

Ros Production ◽

Biomedical Sciences ◽

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear

(1) Background: Chitosan-coated gold nanoparticles (CH-AuNPs) have important theranostic applications in biomedical sciences, including cancer research. However, although cell cytotoxicity has been studied in cancerous cells, little is known about their effect in proliferating primary leukocytes. Here, we assessed the effect of CH-AuNPs and the implication of ROS on non-cancerous endothelial and fibroblast cell lines and in proliferative lymphoid cells. (2) Methods: The Turkevich method was used to synthetize gold nanoparticles. We tested cell viability, cell death, ROS production, and cell cycle in primary lymphoid cells, compared with non-cancer and cancer cell lines. Concanavalin A (ConA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to induce proliferation on lymphoid cells. (3) Results: CH-AuNPs presented high cytotoxicity and ROS production against cancer cells compared to non-cancer cells; they also induced a different pattern of ROS production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). No significant cell-death difference was found in PBMCs, splenic mononuclear cells, and bone marrow cells (BMC) with or without a proliferative stimuli. (4) Conclusions: Taken together, our results highlight the selectivity of CH-AuNPs to cancer cells, discarding a consistent cytotoxicity upon proliferative cells including endothelial, fibroblast, and lymphoid cells, and suggest their application in cancer treatment without affecting immune cells.

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Protein Hydrogels: The Swiss Army Knife for Enhanced Mechanical and Bioactive Properties of Biomaterials

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano11071656 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 1656

Author(s):

Carla Huerta-López ◽

Jorge Alegre-Cebollada

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Properties ◽

Tissue Engineering ◽

Polymer Networks ◽

Biological Tissues ◽

Modern Medicine ◽

Body Parts ◽

Biomedical Sciences ◽

Protein Hydrogels ◽

Large Water ◽

Design Options

Biomaterials are dynamic tools with many applications: from the primitive use of bone and wood in the replacement of lost limbs and body parts, to the refined involvement of smart and responsive biomaterials in modern medicine and biomedical sciences. Hydrogels constitute a subtype of biomaterials built from water-swollen polymer networks. Their large water content and soft mechanical properties are highly similar to most biological tissues, making them ideal for tissue engineering and biomedical applications. The mechanical properties of hydrogels and their modulation have attracted a lot of attention from the field of mechanobiology. Protein-based hydrogels are becoming increasingly attractive due to their endless design options and array of functionalities, as well as their responsiveness to stimuli. Furthermore, just like the extracellular matrix, they are inherently viscoelastic in part due to mechanical unfolding/refolding transitions of folded protein domains. This review summarizes different natural and engineered protein hydrogels focusing on different strategies followed to modulate their mechanical properties. Applications of mechanically tunable protein-based hydrogels in drug delivery, tissue engineering and mechanobiology are discussed.

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